El Al Floats Coupon Bailout, Flights to Resume in October

El Al Airlines has been offering coupons worth 125 percent of bookings cancelled in the past 6 months due to the coronavirus shutdown, Globes reported on Tuesday.

Although the airline has made no announcement about it, some passengers whose flights were cancelled have reported receiving such an offer.

One passenger told Globes that he accepted the deal because it increased the value of the cancelled ticket from $1,810 to $2,262 and could be used until the end of 2021 for flights until November 2022. If the coupons are not used by then, the passenger will still be entitled to a 100 percent refund.

El Al owes its customers an estimated 1 billion shekels on cancellations because of the pandemic. Under normal circumstances passengers are entitled to a full refund within 21 days of the cancelled flight, but because of El Al’s dire financial situation, the Knesset Economics Committee has repeatedly extended the deadline for repayment.

Meanwhile, El Al said on Tuesday that it plans to resume cargo flights later this month and passenger flights in October.

On September 21, El Al will operate cargo runs to Hong Kong, Shanghai, Mumbai and other destinations, Globes said.

On October 1, El Al will begin scheduled flights to Athens and Sun D’Or will offer charter flights to destinations in Greece and Croatia. From October 12, El Al will begin flights on its core routes to New York, London and Paris as the carrier taxis its Dreamliner fleet out of the parking area.